Back to Living How would you describe your life in Hollywood in contrast to your life in Brooklyn?
My life in Hollywood is completely different then my life in Brooklyn. In Brooklyn, we lived in a tenement that could get to be very hot. When J.G. Bachman paid for me to come out to Hollywood to fulfill my career in motion pictures, my life changed dramatically. I went from having nothing to having it all in a matter of months. What I find to be odd is that I was considered a tomboy in Brooklyn, then I come out to Hollywood and suddenly I become the ‘it’ girl and very successful.
How do you feel about being the very first “IT” girl?
I’m very honored. I’ve worked hard for everything I have. ‘It’ is considered to mean a sex icon, and I do not fully agree with that. I feel that ‘it’ is more then just sex, but it reflects who I am and what I have done to get to this point in my career.
What do you have to say in response to the many scandals that have previously been leaked to the press?
I think that the press has made me out to be a bad person, but my chief trouble is that I’m not a sneak! Why, I’ve never done a thing that everybody else in Hollywood hasn’t done. I’ve never done a thing actually bad. I’ve been so convinced of that, I never even tried to learn how to be sneaky. I may have made mistakes. I certainly must have been foolish. But my greatest mistake seems to have been that I was open and above-board about everything. Reporters would come to see me and I’d always receive them. I’d tell them the truth. But they never printed it. They never quoted what I had said, but made up something different. Everyone tried to picture me as tough. They tried to make me seem to talk out of the side of my mouth. What could I do? (Paul Jarvis)
What would be your advice to any teenager who wants to get into this industry?
I would tell them to go for it and do whatever it takes to make it, or at least that was my perspective when I was starting out. The only thing I regret and I would advise people to watch out for is the press and studios. Even though Paramount studios told some of my secrets about love affairs and such to the media to get my name out there, I figured that since I had made it this far by following my own instinct that I could have done this without their publicizing my life.
More with Ms. Bow
Back to LivingHow would you describe your life in Hollywood in contrast to your life in Brooklyn?
My life in Hollywood is completely different then my life in Brooklyn. In Brooklyn, we lived in a tenement that could get to be very hot. When J.G. Bachman paid for me to come out to Hollywood to fulfill my career in motion pictures, my life changed dramatically. I went from having nothing to having it all in a matter of months. What I find to be odd is that I was considered a tomboy in Brooklyn, then I come out to Hollywood and suddenly I become the ‘it’ girl and very successful.
How do you feel about being the very first “IT” girl?
I’m very honored. I’ve worked hard for everything I have. ‘It’ is considered to mean a sex icon, and I do not fully agree with that. I feel that ‘it’ is more then just sex, but it reflects who I am and what I have done to get to this point in my career.
What do you have to say in response to the many scandals that have previously been leaked to the press?
I think that the press has made me out to be a bad person, but my chief trouble is that I’m not a sneak! Why, I’ve never done a thing that everybody else in Hollywood hasn’t done. I’ve never done a thing actually bad. I’ve been so convinced of that, I never even tried to learn how to be sneaky. I may have made mistakes. I certainly must have been foolish. But my greatest mistake seems to have been that I was open and above-board about everything. Reporters would come to see me and I’d always receive them. I’d tell them the truth. But they never printed it. They never quoted what I had said, but made up something different. Everyone tried to picture me as tough. They tried to make me seem to talk out of the side of my mouth. What could I do? (Paul Jarvis)
What would be your advice to any teenager who wants to get into this industry?
I would tell them to go for it and do whatever it takes to make it, or at least that was my perspective when I was starting out. The only thing I regret and I would advise people to watch out for is the press and studios. Even though Paramount studios told some of my secrets about love affairs and such to the media to get my name out there, I figured that since I had made it this far by following my own instinct that I could have done this without their publicizing my life.
Work Cited
Jarvis, Paul. “’Quit Pickin’ on Me! Says Clara Bow.’” The Clara Bow Page. October 12,
2007.<http://www.clarabow.net/articles/quitpickingonme/1.html>.
Cramer, William “Clara Bow: A Short Biography.” The Clara Bow Page. October 12, 2007.
< http://www.clarabow.net/biography/biography.html>.